January 26 – San Diego, which is pitching for a franchise in the expanding MLS, could be getting a 20-30,000 capacity new stadium costing $200 million as part of $1 billion redevelopment of the Qualcomm Stadium property.
By Samindra Kunti
January 25 – Ivory Coast’s title defence came to an end at the 2017 African Cup of Nations in Gabon after a 1-0 defeat to Morocco in the final round of Group C games. In a tournament that has thrown up some unpredictable results, the interest and attendance of fans has been low except for Gabon games, but they have also now exited the tournament.
January 25 – Serbia’s appeal against Kosovo becoming a member of UEFA has been rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, finally paving the way for the breakaway state to persue its footballing ambitions without interference from Big Brother.
January 25 – A lower-league English club has taken the rare step of sacking its head groundsman of 27 years – not because of anything to do with team but after a match was postponed because of a frozen pitch.
By Paul Nicholson
January 24 – Talks of a Caribbean breakaway from regional confederation CONCACAF are premature, and there has been no recommendation tabled for a split, said the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) in response to Insideworldfootball’s story on discussion allegedly held at a CFU executive committee meeting at the weekend.
By Samindra Kunti
January 24 – The revamped Copa Libertadores kicked off yesterday with qualifying across South America, but question marks remain over the tournament’s expanded new format.
January 24 – CONCACAF has added a new international club competition and revamped its Champions League format to bring it into a single calendar season for clubs, rather than spanning two seasons currently.
January 24 – The Confederation of African Football has taken action to protect its website after it was hacked by a Russian group protesting at the African Cup of Nations being staged in Gabon where President Ali Bongo Ondimba retained power in disputed and violent elections last year.
By Paul Nicholson
January 23 – FIFA could be facing the request for the formation of a seventh confederation after an executive committee meeting of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) in Miami at the weekend agreed to explore the prospects for a breakaway of the 31 Caribbean nations from the 41-member CONCACAF confederation.
January 23 – The dates and venues for the 2017 Caribbean Club Championship have been set for February – March 2017. Five groups of four teams will compete for the final tournament scheduled to be played May 13-21.
By Samindra Kunti
January 23 – Despite being unbeaten, Gabon became only the fourth hosts in history to exit the Africa Cup of Nations at the group stage – and the first for 23 years – as concerns continue to mount over the state of pitches at Africa’s flagship event.
January 23 – In emotional scenes, some 20,000 fans, including families of the victims, turned out last Saturday as Brazil’s Chapecoense played their first match since most of their players were killed in that tragic air crash in Colombia in late November.
By Samindra Kent
January 20 – Senegal are the first team to progress to the quarter-finals of the 2017 African Cup of Nations after a commanding 2-0 win against Zimbabwe. The fortunes of favorites Algeria took a dent following a surprise defeat against rivals Tunisia.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 19 – UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin sees no “rational or legal grounds” to strip Russia of the 2018 World Cup despite the recent doping scandal combined with persistent instances of racism and the ongoing probe by Swiss authorities into the bid process.
January 19 – Third time lucky. After twice being voted second in the CONCACAF Player of the Year, Bryan Ruiz has at last take the top honour of 2016. In the women’s vote Alex Morgan claimed her second title having won in 2014 and coming second in 2015.